Rewind, Forget, and Skip to the Next Verse
by skwirelygurli
Summary: When Austin's girlfriend moves away, Ally finds it her responsibility to get him back to his usual self, getting closer to him along the way. Auslly.


**Rewind, Forget, and Skip to the Next Verse; an Austin & Ally oneshot**

**I don't own Austin & Ally. Converse in December had requested a story where Ally helps Austin get back to normal after a breakup, so here's what I've made of it. Hope you all enjoy, request and review!**

_Sunday_

He had finally done it.

He met a girl. A pretty girl, that was sweet and funny and talented and wasn't Ally. A girl that could get him past this silly little crush.

It was a foolproof plan. Fall in love with one girl, out of love with the other. Opportunity had coming knocking, and he had answered.

She was the girl that was supposed to make a summer romance turn into a summer-fall-winter-spring-repeat romance.

Not the summer-until-I-go-back-to-Oregon-because-didn't-I-tell-you-I-was-just-visiting-my-Aunt-for-five-weeks-while-my-parents-toured-Europe-and-now-I'm-leaving-forever romance.

So when he's acting oddly quiet at the Team Austin meeting, Ally notices. He's said a whole four words to her. That, and he's been staring at the ground like it's going to open up and swallow him whole. Not that he'd even react.

"Austin, are you okay?" she asks, setting a piece of sheet music in front of him on the piano.

"Hattie left for Oregon this morning." He moves over to make room for her.

She places a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. I know you really like her. But maybe this long distance relationship will work."

His head hits the keys.

"She broke up with me," he mutters into the ivories.

She moves her hand to wrap her arms around him. She knows she's not Hattie, who's hours away by now, but she's his best friend, and somebody has to make this right.

"It'll be okay," she coos, smoothing his hair.

"It would be so much easier if I could just forget her."

Right, because that had worked so well in forgetting Ally. Sure, he really liked Hattie. But he'd be lying if he said there wasn't those moments when the wrong name almost slid off his tongue, or he pictured what she'd look like as a brunette, instead of those straight blonde locks. It's impossible to forget people you love.

"Just spin around in circles and you'll forget about it. That always works for me," Dez suggests.

"You must spin in circles a lot, huh?" Trish teases.

Apparently that somebody was going to be her.

_Monday_

"You know, you really don't have to do this," he says, taking a seat on the stool.

She flips the sketchpad to a clean page. "Don't worry about it. You know I'd do anything for you."

Even if that meant being his substitute girlfriend, without the benefits. Because if he does everything he did with Hattie with her, he can convince himself that they were only ever friends. And it's a lot easier to get over a friend who is three thousand miles away than a girlfriend who is three thousand miles away.

Or so he tells himself. There may be some part of him wanting this to be a real date with Ally.

Ally, who is three feet a way, and most definitely not in Oregon.

"Austin, don't slouch."

He fixes his posture. She doesn't talk while she draws like Hattie did. So he thinks about that song she wrote. The one without words.

Maybe he could write a love song. He could convince her that this long distance thing can work, and then he can get over Ally, because it is way too cute the way she's drawn the same line five times and keeps erasing it because it isn't perfect.

He really needs to get back together with Hattie.

Her erasing gets fervent and little pink bits fly off the page. It's followed by a series of defiant pencil strokes. She flips the sketchpad over.

"What do you think?"

"You made me a stick figure."

"I know, but I'm not good at drawing people." She tears the page out of the pad, crumpling it into a ball.

He takes the ball from her and smooths it out. "Hey, don't do that. It just needs some pants, that's all."

"Stick figures don't wear pants," she comments.

"I'm a classy stick figure," he says, stealing the pencil from her.

This would have never happened with Hattie.

_Tuesday_

"Are you sure you got him?" he checks as Ally gets tugged along by the bulldog.

"I'm sure." She digs her heels into the ground to no avail. "Then again..."

He takes her hand in his. They both grip onto the leash and call after the dog. The dog who does not seem to care, because he saw a cat and he really wants to chase her.

He shakes his head. "I never had this much trouble with Hattie's dog."

"Maybe she had a way with animals."

"You're saying I don't?"

"Need I remind you of the kangaroo?"

"Oh, right." He loses his grip on the leash. Ally tries to hold on longer, but this dog must really have it out for the cat because she's being dragged at full force towards a tree.

He pulls a dog bone out of his pocket. "Rover! Look what I got!"

The dog snaps its head back. Then it's racing at them, and slams right into her knees. She falls backwards.

With one hand he catches her, feeding the bulldog with the other.

"Maybe we should just carry him the rest of the way to the park," she pants, looking up into his eyes.

He steps on the leash to make sure Rover can't escape.

"That might not be such a terrible idea. The neighbors will kill me if I lose their dog." He sets her back on her feet.

"Well, we wouldn't want you dead, now would we?"

_Wednesday_

She rolls her eyes, curling her legs up to her chest on his couch.

"You two always watched horror movies on Wednesdays?" she asks, pulling the pillow out from behind her.

He scans the shelf of DVDs. "She thought it would help her get over her fear."

"And her burying her head into your chest was just a bonus?"

He turns around to give her a dirty look.

Popping a movie into the player, he sits down next to her. He fast forwards through the previews.

"I think you're going to like this one."

"But you said it's a horror movie. You know I find them boring."

"Yeah, but this is a horror musical." He leans down to pick his drink up off the floor.

She raises an eyebrow. "Rocky Horror?"

He shakes his head.

"Just watch."

She doesn't scream, like Hattie did (which is actually quite a relief for his ears). Instead, she pays attention, and when the credits begin to roll, she finds herself singing along.

The main menu reappears.

"Well?"

"It wasn't terrible."

"Ally..."

"Okay, it was good. The music was really catchy." She crosses her arms. "Happy?"

"Very."

_Thursday_

She's laying on a beach towel when the droplets hit her.

At first she thinks it's Austin, who had gone out with his surfboard. But when she opens her eyes and doesn't see him, she starts to reconsider.

Another drop hits her head.

Rain.

"You know, this is the first Thursday it's rained all summer," he says, sticking his board in the sand.

"Should we leave?" She reaches for her sandals.

He lays down on his towel. "Nah. We should enjoy it."

"My hair frizzes in the rain."

"We can sit under the umbrella." She accepts his offer, and he's glad that he's overcome his fear, because she is so close and he can feel her heart beating at a nice, normal pace, unlike his, which is going twice the speed.

The droplets get fatter and faster.

"It looks like we might be here for a while," she says, rubbing her goosebumped arms.

He hands her his sweatshirt. She's hesitant to take it. "I'm not having you freeze out here because I wanted to stay."

She slips into the sleeves and zips it up.

She's in a sweatshirt that's two sizes too big, and her hair is frizzing, but Austin has to stop for a minute before he can remember what Hattie looks like.

He doubts she was ever this pretty.

_Friday_

There are puddles everywhere.

Her wheels hit water and it splashes at her ankles. She stops the bike at the end of the street.

"So you guys biked every Friday?"

"She didn't really like surprises. Everything was always scheduled." He begins to pedal.

She looks both ways and crosses with him. "That doesn't seem like something you'd agree to."

He shrugs. "You'd be surprised what you do when you like someone."

Like date another girl to get her off your mind?

Oh, yeah.

There's an awkward silence, so she changes the topic.

"Y'know, we haven't really hung out with Trish and Dez this week."

"Yeah, I kind of feel bad about it. But we've just been having so much fun together."

"Right, I'm sure they understand."

"Wanna ride by their houses to see what they're up to?"

She agrees.

They make a u-turn and head for Dez's house. Suddenly, Austin brakes, and Ally runs into him.

"Why'd you stop?" she asks, backing up a few paces.

"I brake for squirrels," he says as one scampers in front of him.

She watches the squirrel dodge a car.

"Good to know."

_Saturday_

He sits at the piano, playing Ally's tune. He's put words to it. And at first, he had thought it was a song for Hattie.

Six days later, he's not so sure.

_I don't want to write another cliché love song_

_But my words keep coming out wrong_

_So please forgive me for all my prior words_

_Just rewind, forget and skip to the next verse_

She enters the room. "She's going to love it."

He jumps, the sheet music getting knocked to the floor.

"Ally, how long were standing there?" He tries to regain his composure.

"Not very." She picks the music off the floor. "You wrote this by yourself?"

He rubs the back of his neck. "I know, the lyrics are cheesy."

"I was going to say that I liked how the chorus made fun of how cheesy it actually was. And besides, did Hattie like cheesy humor?"

It was true. She was the type to laugh at the jokes on the Laffy Taffy wrappers.

Except the song isn't for Hattie.

It's Ally's song.

And he doesn't just mean the melody.

_Sunday, again_

"What did you guys do on Sundays?" She's been through six (technically five, since he and Hattie had agreed Saturdays were days for his friends and career) days of being his psuedo-girlfriend. Today is the last day, and there's a part of her that feels sad asking him.

"We did whatever sounded fun that day. Normally I'd be tired from recording or concerts so we'd just hang out." He takes a bit of his apple.

She slumps against the counter. "That's it?"

"That's it."

He takes a final bite and tosses his core in the trash.

"What are we going to do then?"

"I have an idea."

"Okay," she says eagerly, straightening up.

He takes a step towards her. "We always kissed on Sundays."

Her eyes bulge.

"You want me to kiss you because Hattie kissed you?"

In one fluid motion, he grabs her waist and pulls her flush against his body.

"No."

"But you-"

"I want to kiss you because I love you."

So he does.


End file.
